NEWS

LE featured in Sigma Alpha Iota Tribute to James Cohn

March 2008 - The April edition of Sigma Alpha Iota's magazine Pan Pipes featured a celebration of composer James Cohn's 80th birthday.  The Laurel Ensemble was asked to submit a tribute to Mr. Cohn and introduce "A Grecian Festival", a piece that Mr. Cohn has written for us.  We will premiere the piece on our Masterpieces series in April and May 2008. 

The five movement work is inspired by the myth of Daphne becoming a laurel tree (see our logo).  James Cohn ran with the idea and each movement celebrates an aspect of Grecian history and culture, culminating in Daphne's Flight and Metamorphosis.  We are deeply honored to be the first to perform such a thoughtful, charming piece of music.

LE Article in the Marin Independent Journal

February 2008 - Our ensemble was featured in a great article by Jane Lott as a preview to our Serenades concert at Mill Valley's 142 Throckmorton Theatre.

Laurel Ensemble offers romantic serenades for lovebirds

LE Concert Review in the San Francisco Classical Voice

December 2007 - Michael McDonagh called us "crackerjack and quite glam."

Igor, We Hardly Knew Ye

Our musical vision

The Laurel Ensemble was founded in 2005 to specialize in the rich and varied repertoire written for mixed strings, winds and keyboard during the past four centuries.  Flexibility is a key component of our ensemble; we change our shape to fit the requirements of the music we perform. 

Expanding and contracting our size within a concert -and a season- makes it possible for us to play a very wide range of music.  A lot of wonderful music is rarely heard simply because most chamber groups have a fixed set of instruments.  We are continuing to expand our ensemble to explore diverse repertoire.

We have performed together as friends and colleagues in both chamber music and orchestral settings for many years and it was our shared sense of musical adventure that inspired us to form the Laurel Ensemble.

About "Daphne"  

One of the earliest literary references to a laurel tree is in Greek mythology.  Ovid later set the myth to verse in his Metamorphosis.  In this story, the god Apollo taunts Eros (Cupid), saying bows and arrows are for grown-ups and not for young cherubs.  Offended, Eros plays a trick on Apollo: he shoots arrows at Apollo and the nymph Daphne.  Apollo is struck by an arrow with a golden tip, causing him to fall hopelessly in love with Daphne--but Daphne is pierced with a lead-tipped arrow, which makes Apollo repellant to her.

Daphne runs from Apollo, but he soon catches up.  Just as he reaches out to enfold her in his arms, she cries out to the gods for help in escaping his embrace.  Instantly, she transforms into a laurel tree: her skin turns to bark, her legs and feet become the trunk and roots, and her head and hair turn into the top and leaves.  Apollo touches the tree and feels Daphne's heart beating under the bark.  Not to be denied, he tears a branch from his beloved tree, forms it into a crown and places it on his head, proclaiming that the Laurel will henceforth adorn him, his lyre, and his arrow, and that the laurel crown will be used to represent victory and triumph.

Logo design by Christina Mok & Shu-Yun Lai